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Orlando Fringe: We don't play fight.

Guys, I'm an actor!!!

Well, OK, I don't think I will be winning any Oscars anytime soon but my goodness what an experience. Back in March my husband turned to me and told me about his friend who had written a play. I met, and got to wrestle with said friend, Jason, a few days later and thought he was pretty awesome. A few weeks later Chris turned to me and said, 'Jason was asking if you would be interested in being a part of his play?'

You know what my immediate response was? Doubt! Yes, I proceeded to give Chris a list of reasons why I couldn't possibly do the play. All included variations of 'I won't be very good at that,' 'I can't act', I'd be too nervous and scared.' Did I think it sounded awesome? Yes. Did I feel deep down it would be fun? Yes. Was there a tiny part of me willing myself to have confidence and say yes? You bet.

It took a few more conversations with Chris before, with his encouragement, I said the words 'Yes' and tried very hard to focus on having confidence in myself and just enjoy the whole experience.

Fast forward to Monday 29th May, the day after our final show, and me sitting here writing this post. I am so beyond happy that I said 'Yes.' Five shows, five days/nights of getting to take the stage alongside some incredible actors. Five matches, getting to wrestle some wonderful talent and tell such awesome stories, and five moments of saying 'screw you' to fear and going into each show with determination to do my best and have a great time.

One thing that has been on my wrestling 'to do' list for the longest time, is to go into a match without being scared, to go to the ring thinking nothing but good things and being confident in my ability and what I am capable of. During this show, I achieved that goal and I honestly can't tell you how happy that makes me. I thank Jason Calabrese from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to be a part of his dream and his awesome play and for giving me that little platform to check these things off my list. Realizing the show was bigger than my fears, wanting to work hard and do my best for him and everyone who was involved, really helped me to see the big picture and forget those niggling insecure thoughts. Being around such talented people, getting to watch them in their roles, was truly inspirational. I will forever admire actors for their ability to step out of who they are and give their all to bring a character to life.

The show itself was a dream. Stories have always been my favourite thing about wrestling. So to have a whole play lead in to wrestling matches that brought the whole story full circle was simply awesome. Jason had written a play that gave a very cool insight into professional wrestling; the goings on behind the scenes, the not so brilliant things that sometimes happen, the drama, the competition and ultimately the people that have a dream and don't stop at anything to make it a reality. I thoroughly enjoyed playing the sister to the beautiful CJ (Kelly Malik) and really loved the heart that both characters had. They were fighting for what they loved after having been through a terrible tragedy. They had each other and not much else. Kelly was amazing and played her role beautifully, she is so talented, I learnt so much form her. As for the rest of the ensemble, Jason did a fantastic job playing the tough but fair wrestling coach. Sean C Stewart did a phenomenal job bringing the crazy, down on his luck Russian, Barry the Barefoot to life and also killed it in his first ever wrestling match against Jason on Night 3! Sean Kerrigan did a wonderful job playing the somewhat ruthless but ultimately kind hearted wrestling promoter, trying to get the best out of people while, of course, trying to make money in the bushiness with his vision, and Joey Mayberry, playing his incredible self, was pure entertainment and simply captivating.

Thank you to all the awesome wrestlers that I got to step in the ring with. I had so much fun with each and every one of you. You all inspire me!

If you didn't get to the show, you can see some of the performances here:

Oh, I definitely will have to check this out!! After being involved in this business it sounds fun to look at a dramatic take on it, since in my experience it was a whole lot of drama lol It'll be nice to watch it from the outside!

I'm so proud of you for stepping out of your fears and giving this a try! I was involved in theatre for a very long time and I thank goodness that I was. It really transforms you. I can't wait to give it a watch, and congrats on the performances!! <3

Aww haha, thank you so much, you are the sweetest and your comment really meant a lot to me! :) Wow, that's awesome that you were involved in theater. Actors inspire me so much, what did you get to do? What did you love about it? Thank you again for your lovely comment!

I was in shows all through my school years and into college. I actually majored in theatre for two years until I realized that wasn't going to get me anywhere lol But I acted and sang and danced and all that jazz!

I guess what I loved most was probably because you're so vulnerable and you really have to trust who you're working with to not judge you when you try something out of the box that you just develop really cool relationships with people that are very genuine. I don't see my theatre friends from school all the time, but when I do see them there's an instant comfort in them because they've seen me being weird and still like me anyway! LOL The theatre community is so lovely and it just teaches you so much about acceptance of everything and everyone! <3

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Hi! We are Lucy and Kelly, professional wrestlers turned lifestyle bloggers. We're coffee lovers, fast talkers and never go anywhere without a notebook and pen...or each other!! "Dream Big and Be Happy."